An eviction notice has been served after an “unusually high number” of travellers in caravans arrived in a Cambridgeshire village overnight.

Travellers who arrived in Stapleford’s recreation ground yesterday evening (August 11) have been handed an eviction notice giving them until 5pm today to leave.

According to leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council leader Cllr Peter Topping, a group of more than 20 traveller caravans arrived on the recreation ground fields to the left of Haverhill Road. He said it's an "unusually high number".

“This kind of thing is always very disruptive to village life and, now and then, most villages in South Cambridgeshire get this sort of thing,” he said.

The travellers had arrived with caravans, as well as horses, which had alarmed villagers.

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He added the South Cambs Planning Enforcement team had attended the recreation ground and said he was confident the actions being taken by the parish council were the correct ones and that there was unlikely to be a protracted legal battle over the site.

Cllr Nigel Pett, chairman of Stapleford Parish Council, said that in 39 years of living in Stapleford, he had never known travellers to stay in the rec. He said a cricket game had had to be cancelled this morning, despite the travellers seemingly showing an interest in joining the game.

Caravans have turned up on the recreation ground fields to the left of Haverhill Road, Stapleford

Mr Pett said: “We have issued an eviction order,” said Cllr Pett. “If they’re still here at 5pm, the Bailiffs will come back. I think they will give them a little latitude but, after that, they will be towed off.

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Travellers in Cambridgeshire

'Everything has been scrubbed today'

“We have never had an incident like this before, but it is an issue generally in South Cambridgeshire. There had been a cricket match planned but that won’t be happening. Everything has been scrubbed today. I did speak about the cricket match, and they said ‘some of us really like to play’.”

Mr Pett said the travellers would not be invited to join a cricket match.

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He said the council would not be able to take responsibility if a wayward ball damaged any of the caravans by mistake.

Cllr Charles Nightingale, who represents the Shelfords and Stapleford at South Cambridgeshire District Council, said he had been warning that a gap in the fence made the rec vulnerable to trespassers.

Cllr Nightingale said: “It is out of the ordinary. I predicted it some weeks ago. I have been warning for some time about the gap between the trees, which you can drive through off the road.”

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